A man who screamed homophobic slurs while beating up a 14-year-old boy has been jailed for more than two years.
The teenager, who remains anonymous for legal reasons, was walking home from school on 9 February when he saw Lee Cavanagh drunkenly fall off his bike in Seacombe, Wirral.
The boy asked if he was OK. Cavanagh responded by running towards him and grabbing him, screaming “Are you gay?” repeatedly.
Cavanagh then swung him around numerous times before punching him four or five times and eventually fleeing the scene, Joshua Sanderson-Kirk, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court.